How is a zeppelin structured? and what is the different between a blimp and zeppelin?

Question

How is a zeppelin structured? and what is the different between a blimp and zeppelin?

Answer 1

Zeppelins were airships made by the Zeppelin company. Their name became generic, rather like calling a vacuum cleaner a "Hoover" even if is not a Hoover.

Zeppelins were "dirigibles". This means that they were constructed around a rigid aluminium frame, were powered  and could be steered.  

The frame was filled with gas bags (hydrogen) and covered with a doped fabric cover. They have outboard engines and aerodynamic movable control surfaces (movable fins to control height and direction).

They came to prominence as bombers in World War 1 and as trans Atlantic passenger aircraft between the wars.

The British equivalents were built near Bedford and had the inspiring designations of R100 and R101. When the R101 crashed it meant the end of large airship development in Britain.

The German Zepplins ended when the Hindenberg caught fire when trying to dock in the USA after a flying from Germany.

Blimps are basically large bags filled with a lighter-than-air gas (helium these days). Basically a glorified baloon. They're not always steerable, although the construction technique is used for the powered Goodyear airship that flies around filming sporting events and suchlike.

The most famous examples of blimps were the barrarge baloons used around cities in World War 2.

Answer 2

Both are streamlined to allow engine-powered forward movement and directional control.

A blimp is given its shape by the pressure of the lifting gas inside the envelope and the way the fabric sections are shaped.

(The word "Blimp" is an abbreviation for "type 'B' limp airship," from WW1 British terminology.  The Royal navy used several types, designated "type A," "type B," and so on.)

A rigid airship has a framework of lightweight metal or wood covered with a fabric outer envelope and containing several gas compartments of impervious material.

The rigid structure allows rigid airships to be made much larger than blimps, so they can carry heavier loads and more powerful engines.  Rigid airships are faster than blimps.

The first rigid airships were developed by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin at the beginning of the 20th Century, and the word became a generic term for airships of all types, particularly all rigid airships.

The US Navy purchased a number of rigid airships from Germany and from American companies, and for the most part designated them Zeppelins.  Helium had been discovered in natural gas in the US, and so there were a number of Zeppelins that used helium rather than hydrogen.

The Hindenburg explosion resulted from the fact that the US government refused to sell helium to Germany in the late 1930s for strategic reasons.

Answer 3

The zeppelin has rigid frames supporting the skin, dirigible whereas the blimp has no frames within. The difference is that the zeppelin used gaseous hydrogen in order to achieve the lighter than air ability which enables it to fly. The Germans did not possess helium yet. Hydrogen in that form is extremely dangerous and flammable and the Hiddenburg is a tragic result of the zeppelin. The blimp however uses helium which is much safer.

Answer 4

Airships are not lighter than air. They 'fly' - float in air would be a better expression - for the same reasons that ships float in water. The weight of air they displace is greater than the the weight of the vessel its self.

There are three types of airships: rigid, semi-rigid and non-rigid or blimp. Rigid airships - of which the Zeppelin's were probably the most famous - have a very lightweight metal structure containing a large number of gas bags filled with hydrogen later American airships used helium (both are gases which are lighter than air). Semi-rigid types have a basic metal framework to give them there aerodynamic shape and non-rigid types have no framework (or maybe just a keel) at all but take their shape from the gas inside and the way the material of the vessel is constructed. Blimps are often referred to as dirigables because people think the word means non-rigid - it doesn't. '

Dirigible' is taken from the Latin "dirigere" - to direct - and in this context it means that airships can be steered, not just blown in the wind like balloons. All 'steerable' airships are dirigibles no matter how they are constructed.

So, the basic difference between a Zeppelin and a blimp is that the Zeppelin has (or rather, had) a rigid frame and the blimp is a just a bag of gas (albeit a very sophisticated one these days).

Answer 5

Metal frame covered with a canvas skin and lots of Hydrogen filled airbags not very complicated but not very safe either.

Difference as I understand it is;- a Zeppelin was made by the Zeppelin company and blimps werent, other than that they are basically the same thing

Answer 6

try wikepedia